This disclosure generally relates to folding wing-like structures for airborne vehicles such as missiles, glide bombs and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Many missiles utilize wings or stabilizers (e.g., control fins) for stabilizing and guiding the missile during flight. Missiles are frequently stored and launched from tubular launchers, and may be deployed from aircraft, ships or land vehicles, where storage space is limited. Under such circumstances it is necessary to minimize the space required for storage of the missile prior to launch, and fixed wings substantially increase the storage space requirements.
In view of the foregoing, various folding wing-like structures have been proposed for missiles, which structures are initially retracted into a storage position and can be deployed automatically during flight of the missile to swing out from the missile body. Some folding wing-like structures currently incorporated in missiles use hinges to pivotably couple the folding wing to the missile body. However, the known wing hinge mechanisms are large and exceed the outer mold line (OML) of the wing/fuselage of the missile, creating “blisters” or other visible external features. These features increase the signature of the missile, decreasing its effectiveness.
It would be desirable to provide a low-profile internal wing deployment hinge mechanism for missiles that has a reduced signature as compared to folding wings deployed using external hinges.